Hey I think this field has the best fields in the area i used to work there i wish i still did tim and bernie are great guys and it was cool working for them i also like playing with players there all pretty cool especially Final Justice.Its a good time sometimes team Strange stops by and u can play with them. jhenson and troy u guys are pimps and mike and travis

Gator is a well respected field to most of the tampa bay area. lots of teams go there to practice and have fun. personaly i like the fields alot but unfortuneately is way over crowded the games go pretty slow and the owners dad bernie can get pretty anoying at times but he seems to cool down when the plumbers arrive (wink, wiink) i only say that cause i know bernie and we have joked about it in the past. over all i dont hate this field but it could use some work.thats all i have to say...

I think gator is a great feild the owner tim is a rlly nice guy..they have good feild for rec, and the air ball feilds are good, the reffs are friendly the go over the ruls and make the teams fair I notests they are starting to make sure every one cronoes so no shoots hott they have great prices you can bring your own paintballs if you have your own equipment which is cool... over all i always have a great time when i go there I think you should too. There is alot of rec ball players so its good for the senario feilds, If your on a team its good they have lots of 5 man rookie teams up there on sunday If your team is looking for a good scrimage go on saturday if you dont have a team and you played there and tim getts to know you you can play air ball with the tourney players and games go fast that way so if you wanna have fun I would say go to gator

i dont know if theres any around by where i live,gator is the closest that i know about

Review:

gator paintball is a high quality field.i have been playing there for 5 years now since i was about 11 and im 16 currently.they have alot of fields.they currently as of june 05,they have 3 air ball fields.1 jt field,1 empire field,and 1 x-ball field.they have 1 big hyperball field that is split up into two hyperball fields.one small version and one larger version.they also have a almost perfect trailor course.with about 4 trailors that have a real look of having someone living them.in the 4 trailors they have stoves,showers,bathrooms,and sometimes they may bring out props.and a 2-story castle thats pretty big,a car as the middle mark,and a van.they have a very realistic woods/Vietnam course.bunkers ranging from fighting holes,piles of wood,mini-castles,trenches,hey stacks,barrels,and a mini-hyperball fort.the most popular fields for rec. ballers would be the grave yard,ghost town,and shapes courses.the grave yard and ghost yard are identical but you can tell them apart by there bunkers,and all the fields at gator have a wooden sign next to them posted on trees.some days if there are alot of players they may have games ranging from mini-scenarion that are a half-hour long,big games that take up to 3 courses long,swat,and my favorite fear factor.fear factor is like a attack and defend game where one team that are made up of the better players and guns,start in a wooden fort.and all the rentals and less experienced players on a air ball field.the objective in the game is for the attacking team to touch the ''concoction''.before the game they are told for a prize they may end the game by dumping some of the concoction on their head,or after the game they may drink it.but it is all voluntary and fun to do and watch.usually the prize can be some paintballs,a free admission to gator,or a free air pass.the concoction is a drink that may have paintballs,ketchup,mustard,mayo,and who else knows????they are always looking for refs at gator so i might look into it.some of the reviews say they dont chrono the guns.in fact they do,but some people will change it after they chrono,or some people say that some people have boards that increase the velocity after shooting really fast,but who knows.the refs are kids, yes they screw around sometimes but they do their job well.the owner tim is a great guy.hes nice to everyone and he also lives by the field.some people dont like bernie.hes tim dad and bernie does alot for gator.he tells the refs if the air ball bunkers are deflating during the day,he watches the proshop,he logs everyone in their log book(people that rent and own their equipment)and basicly does what the refs arnt doing while the refs are busy or theres not to many of them.lunch break is where the refs take a break and eat while everyone else does.they make great tasting hamburgers,cheese burgers,and hot dogs.the prices for food is really cheap.they even have condiments there for the food.drinks they have done well.they have bottled water,gatorade,and soda.the only bad things about the field is that there is sand everywhere,sometimes it gets a little crowded,and if you rent the guns they are actually good but you have to clean them really good until they say your o.k.

p.s. games may run slow because they announce the field and what the game is and how many minutes untill the game starts(usually 5 min.)then in that time they make the announcement the game is starting,when the refs get there there may be 5 people out of 20.the games would run slow because they were talking during that 5 min and then geared up when they announced when it started.so the refs have to wait till all the people come up.then some people like to forget which team they are on because they didnt pay attention and wanted to talk to their friends.also bernie is a nice guy.just be respectful to him and dont ask him repetitive questions that are stupid,and always follow the rules because if you break them more then once he will get mad and make you sit a game or two and give you a lecture on what you did.another good thing is sometimes they will give you prizes for cleaning up your area at the end of the day.they range from stickers,paintball magazines,and some small stuff like that that are cool.one time i got some free pods.i give the field a overall 9 because nothing in this world is perfect,and there is sand everywhere.

elite.........smaller but way more friendly ,lots more games, less crowded Every one should try it.

Review:

i have been here only a couple of times but the experiences were just not good. At first I thought it might just be alittle flaw and it might be fixed, but it has not changed.

The good....... The fields are pretty nice, if they didnt try to cramm 100 people on it at a time.

The bad.......... Well where should I start, the worker Bernie..........he is just the rudest persone, he ruins my day every time I go there. The refs seem like they work hard at sitting doin nuttin. granted there are a lot of people to watch, but if that is the case they need to hire more refs. They have way way to many people at one time, they try to put 150 people on a tiny field. the games go sooo slow. if you miss the game you have to sit for 45 minutes to try to get into the next game. The stageing is not good at all, it is all sandy . the air ball is nice but unfortunatly .........you cant play it!!!! And for the hour they have it open to the rec players it is like 70 on 70 in a 7 man air ball field.it is naot fun at all.Every one shoots hott, no body checks the speed. I mean think about it how can you check 150 people with one ref , its just not logical.

conclusion........if they were to work on the stageing the shop it may be alittle better but the biggest thing is gettin bernie to be more friendly which i think will NEVER happen

this is my opinion so if you are around , try it and post your review, maybe im wrong

I will not go back to Gator again. That is pretty sad considering that this is the field that got me started playing in the first place. This last weekend ended it for me. Until Bernie is no longer there I will not go back, period. He is just a miserable person to deal with and there are better places around. Since the first trip up there he has given all of us that go together a hard time. He belittles others to make himself seem more important in my opinion. Gator may be cheaper than the other places I have been but you get what you pay for I guess. Tim needs to take more control of the place. He is a nice and helpful guy.

The first time we went up there was with a birthday party with 9 teenage kids 15-17 years old, myself and a friend of mine. We rented guns for most of the kids since most of them had never gone before. The staff hardly helped us to tell us where to go or what to do. They told us to read the rules (on a board that was so faded out you couldn't see the middle 6 rules) and we could go play. We had to ask for help to get the guns working and the masks were all old and the foam was still wet. The Piranhas worked ok, but several kids had theirs de-cock and no one had told them about this and they got shot because their guns wouldn't shoot. At the end of the day one of the kids in the party turned a gun in early to one of the kids working behind the desk. When we were checking out Bernie yelled at us to find this gun. It wasn't like we were going to try and steal the piece of crap! We told him it was already turned in and he made us wait 20 minutes before he finally told us to go ahead and leave and he would try and find it. He told us we had to clean their rental guns off before we could turn them in and the water had broken out there that day so we had to use our shirts and pants to wipe the things down.

The Fields: The fields are pretty good. The airball fields have deep ruts and on their website forums I keep reading it is because it wasn't summer and the grass will come in. The problem is that there are holes in front of all of the bunkers not to mention no grass. The woods courses are great there. The problem is they only run one game at a time. They don't have enough refs to do more. The result is that you have games with 50 on 50 and it is too crowded. Sometimes the airsoft teams take some of the fields and you are playing the hyperball and shapes courses all day long. The teams practice and use the airball courses so they are only open to the public from 3-4 on weekends. If you get to play 8 games of airball all day your lucky.

The Staff: The staff is why this place is so bad. Bernie needs to go, period. He can't deal with people very well, unless you are one of the teams that plays up there. Then he is nice to you. I have seen this first hand. The other guy that runs it up there (Tim, I think) has always been nice and helpful. The refs are ok, but they are 16 year old kids and they goof around too much. Not once have I ever been checked for a chrono (or seen anyone else checked). They tell you to do it but never verify it. I have had shots where I was bleeding after being hit. There are a lot of hot shooters up there. The staff all act like they don't want to be there.

The Facility: The Pro shop is a joke. It's inside a trailer that has hardly anything there and is all overpriced. They don't even open it half of the time because they don't have the staff to run it. They staging areas are covered but have big stumps sticking out you have to try not to trip over. The place is all dirt. When you leave there be prepared to have sand everywhere. The guns get messed up and all of your equipment too. They have one Porta-Potty. One good thing is they cook hot dogs and hamburgers on a grill and sell drinks. The road getting to the place has holes that almost swallow your car. I have had several problems with paintballs being on my car when I left from where kids thew paint around. The line to pay and get signed in is a joke. They are slow and have to give you a number if you are using CO2 so that you can tell them if you are filling up. Then you have to go get in line for the CO2. That's two lines to get CO2. Why is that? They could mark your bands at the CO2 tanks and take care of it all at once. The one good thing is that the air is self serve. The test range is ok. They have a chrono station but like I said you don't have to chrono because no one ever checks it. I do it because I hate being shot by hot guns and I wouldn't do that to some poor kid.

Overall: I like the fields but, they need to play more games, hire more and better staff, check for chrono'd guns and fix the place up. Most importantly they need to get Bernie away from the main desk and their customers. We normally go there every other weekend with a group of 9-15 kids and because I am there to help work on the kids guns and supply them extra paint if they need it ect... they have lost my business and in turn probably lost most of that business as well. I have been reluctant to bring people that are new to paintball up there because I don't want them to have their first experience ruined by Bernie yelling at them and getting hit with guns that aren't at legal levels. If Bernie is out of the picture I will consider going time to time but there are changes that need to made. I know I was probably nasty with Bernie this weekend when I left, but as you can see on other reviews I am not the only one to experience this treatment.

Update: Tim has contacted me and is in the process of trying ot make things better. I know it must be hard to run a business like Gator and satisfy everyone, but I appreciate him trying to make this right with me. I will try and make it back out there towards the end of June. I will update this then.

What I dont Like: Gator is Overly crowded. When i go somewhere to play paintball I usually go there TO PLAY PAINTBALL not sit around all day waiting for fields to get open. There is Also one guy that is pretty mean. There are a wide varity of cheaters (wipers, hot guns etc.) and the refs dont usually catch them. The prices are'nt that great. Ive seen alot cheaper.

Gator is pretty cool. A lot of cool games (scenerio type) Tim, the owner is really nice.Cares about the sport and his customers.Prices are reasonable.Go to gator, you will have a good time.The only complaint i would have is their air ball fields need to be moved around more.Major ruts and holes in fornt of the props.The last couple weeks i have seen a lot of viewloader guys out there on sat and sunday.

Nice fields
Great Prices
Saftey is definetly first on there priority
1 port-a-john
hamburgers and hotdogs - soda - gatorade- water

The only complaint I have is the Refs - the whole 20 foot rule was bull****(not enforced)- there where definetly people with hot guns - not everyone chronoed there guns - it wasn't until the end of the day the refs started carrying around hand held chrono's - and randomly chrononing people - they need more educated refs that acctually enforce the rules of play (or know the rules)

Im giving it a 9 - only because of the refs - other than that its a great place - this will be my home for sometime - compared to the other fields i've played at - this one blows them all off the map

Well I love this field. I play at it constantly. It is very fun and the refs do a great job ensuring safety to all of the players. The owner Tim is very friendly and he does a great job on the fields. Constant improvement is always going on. The fields are great, I love the X-BALL, airball, and the new airball field that is going to be up and running around late august. All of the airball fields are grass and are great for sliding. The fields are always changing and there is always something new to do at Gator Paintball. Also Gator has extremely fun scenario games where they play for two whole days (day and night) which combine all of the fields. Since the owner lives on the field he is out there every day of the week improving all of the fields. There are a whole bunch of fields and they are extremely fun. From sniping in the woods to attacking the trailers to attacking a fort. Theres always something new at Gator.
GO AND TRY IT OUT..........
P.S. please dont listen to the godfather THE REVIEW BELOW MINE
he has no idea what hes talking about. I play on Gators team and we do not hog the airball field. It is played whenever the rec players want to play on it and as for the reffing, I see no problem with it. I AM 15 AND I REF THERE ON FRIDAY NIGHTS, we refs are very curtious to any and all players and usually take votes on what fields they want to play. All fields are played during the day INCLUDING AIRBALL. and I have not had any complaints about myself at all. Im a very good and polite ref and check players (not just play with paintballs) we do a great job and work our butts off I insist you come out on a friday night and meet me and Ill make sure you have a great time........